JP7305744B2 - Signal processing method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

This application claims priority from Chinese Patent Application No. 201810846998.5 entitled "SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD AND APPARATUS" filed with the Chinese Patent Office on July 27, 2018, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. is incorporated herein.

The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly to signal processing methods and apparatus in multi-antenna systems.

Multi-antenna techniques such as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques and adaptive antenna systems (AAS) are used to increase network capacity. The vertical (latitudinal) distribution of service information tunnels is mainly extended by increasing the number of tunnels, thereby improving spectral efficiency and increasing network capacity.

In a multi-tunnel multi-antenna system, the maximum power of each tunnel is fixed. A remote radio unit (RRU) can allocate power to each signal and generate multiple powers, which correspond to multiple beams. If the power rating is limited, multiple powers need to be allocated to multiple beams separately. However, the number of beams that can be used by a terminal device to receive power is limited, and not all powers of multiple beams can be received by the terminal device. In existing multi-antenna systems, the signals can be perfectly beamformed, but each radio frequency tunnel corresponds to one antenna array. It is difficult to implement power sharing between different groups of beams. In addition, too many tunnels certainly increase costs.

The present application provides a signal processing method and apparatus in a multi-antenna system to implement flexible power allocation among multiple antennas to reduce costs.

According to a first aspect, a signal processing method is provided. The method comprises obtaining a first signal, the first signal comprising M signal components, where M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1; and N second signals. performing a first weighted process on the first signal based on the first matrix to determine the number of rows of the first matrix, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1; to the N second signals based on the second matrix to determine the K third signals, with steps where the number is M and the number of columns of the first matrix is N , wherein the second matrix is the conjugate transpose of a matrix containing K M-dimensional vectors in the determinant of the first matrix, where K is less than or equal to N and transmitting K third signals over preset beams, for carrying the third signals to be transmitted to at least one terminal device corresponding to the beams. and steps used in

According to the signal processing method provided in this embodiment of the present application, the baseband processing unit assigns M signal components of a first signal to multiple feed tunnels based on a first matrix: A first weighted process is performed to perform processes such as modulation and power allocation. The antenna unit then performs a second weighted process based on the conjugate transposed matrix of the first matrix. For example, the antenna unit performs a second weighted process based on the conjugate transpose of the first matrix via a bridge circuit to converge the signals on the multiple feed tunnels to the preset antenna. In this way, power can be flexibly allocated via the RRU. Compared to the fixed transmit/receive relationship of existing antenna feeder technology, where the RRU's feed tunnel is directly connected to the antenna, the present solution can implement power sharing between the RRU's feed tunnels without additional feed tunnels. , flexible power allocation among multiple antennas can be implemented, thus reducing costs.

In relation to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first matrix includes M-dimensional vectors of which any two of the N are mutually orthogonal.

In relation to the first aspect and the implementations described above, in some possible implementations, the value of K is equal to the value of M, and the K third signals are paired with the M signal components. 1 corresponds.

It will be appreciated that in some cases, when K equals M, K=M=N. The BBU performs a first weighted process based on the first matrix to assign one original signal to N tunnels. Correspondingly, the antenna unit may then focus the signals on the N tunnels into one beam.

In relation to the first aspect and the implementations described above, in some possible implementations the first matrix is a unitary matrix.

It should be appreciated that one terminal device may correspond to one or more beams. If one terminal device corresponds to one beam, the BBU performs a first weighted process based on the first matrix to assign one original signal to N tunnels, and then An antenna unit can focus the signals on the N tunnels into beams, and communication with terminal devices over the beams is performed.

のクロネッカー積に基づいて決定される行列である。 In relation to the first aspect and the implementations described above, in some possible implementations, the first matrix is a matrix determined based on a discrete Fourier transform, or m matrices

is a matrix determined based on the Kronecker product of

In relation to the first aspect and the implementations described above, in some possible implementations the number of preset beams corresponds to N terminal devices.

が、回路の最小構成単位である。90°ブリッジデバイスは、バンド内コンバイナとも呼ばれ、伝送線の定められた方向に沿って送信電力を連続的にサンプリングし、1つの入力信号を等しい振幅および90°の位相差を有する2つの信号に分割し得る。このようにして、ブリッジ回路は、M個の第1の信号をN個の第2の信号に収束させるために、第1の重み付き処理を実行する。 Specifically, in a possible implementation, the first matrix processing circuit can comprise four bridge devices, a 90° bridge device

is the minimum structural unit of the circuit. A 90° bridge device, also called an intra-band combiner, continuously samples the transmitted power along a defined direction of the transmission line, converting one input signal into two signals with equal amplitude and a 90° phase difference. can be divided into Thus, the bridge circuit performs a first weighted process to converge the M first signals into the N second signals.

It should be appreciated that unitary matrix circuits have multiple forms. For example, a unitary matrix circuit may comprise one 90° bridge device or multiple 90° bridge devices. This is not a limitation in this application.

、

、または

のうちのいずれか1つである。 In relation to the first aspect and the implementations described above, in some possible implementations the mathematical form of the first matrix is:

,

,or

is one of

According to a second aspect, a signal processing device is provided. The apparatus is an acquisition unit configured to acquire a first signal, wherein the first signal comprises M signal components, where M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1; A processing unit configured to perform a first weighted process on the first signal based on the first matrix to determine N second signals, where N is 1 is an integer greater than or equal to M, the number of rows of the first matrix is M, and the number of columns of the first matrix is N, and the processing unit determines the K third signals. further configured to perform a second weighted process on the N second signals based on a matrix of 2, the second matrix being the K M dimensions in the determinant of the first matrix a processing unit, the conjugate transposed matrix of the matrix containing the vectors, K being less than or equal to N, and a communication unit configured to transmit K third signals via the preset beams, the preset beams is used to carry a third signal to be transmitted to at least one terminal device corresponding to the beam.

Regarding the second aspect, in some possible implementations, the first matrix contains M-dimensional vectors of which any two of the N are mutually orthogonal.

In relation to the second aspect and the implementations described above, in some possible implementations, the value of K is equal to the value of M, and the K third signals are paired with the M signal components. 1 corresponds.

In relation to the second aspect and the implementations described above, in some possible implementations the first matrix is a unitary matrix.

のクロネッカー積に基づいて決定される行列である。 In relation to the second aspect and the implementations described above, in some possible implementations, the first matrix is a matrix determined based on a discrete Fourier transform, or m matrices

is a matrix determined based on the Kronecker product of

In relation to the second aspect and the implementations described above, in some possible implementations the number of preset beams corresponds to N terminal devices.

、

、または

のうちのいずれか1つである。 In relation to the second aspect and the implementations described above, in some possible implementations the mathematical form of the first matrix is:

,

,or

is one of

According to a third aspect, a network device is provided, the network device comprising a transceiver, a processor and memory. A processor is configured to control the transceiver to transmit and receive signals. The memory is configured to store computer programs. The processor invokes the computer program from memory and executes the computer program to enable the network device to perform the method in the first aspect and any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect. configured as

According to a fourth aspect, a computer program product is provided. A computer program product comprises computer program code. The computer program code, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to perform methods according to the aspects described above.

According to a fifth aspect, a computer readable medium is provided. A computer readable medium stores program code. The program code, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to perform methods according to the aspects described above.

According to a sixth aspect, a chip system is provided. The chip system includes a processor configured to support the network device in performing functions in the manner described above, such as generating, receiving, determining, transmitting, or processing data and/or information in the manner described above. . In a possible design, the chip system further includes memory. The memory is configured to store program instructions and data required by the network device. A chip system may include a chip or may include a chip and another separate component.

1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a multi-antenna system according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 1 is a schematic flow diagram of a signal processing method according to an embodiment of the present application; 1 is a schematic diagram of a signal processing method according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a multi-beam weight network according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a signal processing device according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG. FIG. 4 is another schematic block diagram of a signal processing device according to an embodiment of the present application; 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application; FIG.

The technical solutions of the present application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD) systems, 5th generation (5G) mobile communication systems or new radio (NR) communication systems, and future mobile communication systems.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 1, communication system 100 includes network device 102, which may include multiple antennas, eg, antennas 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, and 114. In FIG. In some cases, the antennas included in network device 102 may be divided into multiple antenna groups, and each antenna group may include one or more antennas. For example, one antenna group may include antennas 104 and 106, another antenna group may include antennas 108 and 110, and yet another antenna group may include antennas 112 and 114.

It should be understood that, for ease of understanding only, the above and FIG. 1 show the case where 6 antennas are divided into 3 antenna groups. It does not constitute any limitation on the application. Network device 102 may include a greater or fewer number of antennas, and the antennas included in network device 102 may be divided into greater or fewer antenna groups, each antenna group having a greater or fewer number of antennas. can include

Additionally, network device 102 may further include a transmitter chain and a receiver chain. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that both the transmitter chain and the receiver chain may comprise multiple components associated with transmitting and receiving signals, such as processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators, demultiplexers, or antennas. let's be

It should be appreciated that a network device within a communication system may be any device having radio transceiver functionality, or a chip that may be located within a device. Devices are evolved NodeB (eNB), Radio Network Controller (RNC), NodeB (NodeB, NB), Base Station Controller (BSC), Base Transceiver Station, BTS), Home Node B (e.g. Home evolved NodeB, or Home NodeB, HNB), BaseBand Unit (BBU), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) system Access Point, AP), wireless relay node, wireless backhaul node, transmission point (TP), transmission and reception point (TRP), etc. Alternatively, the device may be a gNB in a 5G system or a network node such as a distributed unit (DU) that constitutes a gNB or transmission point.

In some deployments, a gNB may include a centralized unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may further include a radio frequency unit (RU). CU implements some functions of gNB and DU implements some functions of gNB. For example, the CU implements the functions of the radio resource control (RRC) layer and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and the DU implements the functions of the radio link control (RLC) layer. , media access control (MAC) layer, and physical (PHY) layer functions. The RRC layer information is ultimately converted to or from the PHY layer information. Therefore, in this architecture, higher layer signaling such as RRC layer signaling or PDCP layer signaling may also be considered sent by the DU or sent by the DU and RU. It will be appreciated that a network device can be a CU node, a DU node, or a device that includes a CU node and a DU node. Additionally, a CU may be classified as a network device within the access network RAN and a CU may be classified as a network device within the core network. This is not a limitation in this application.

A network device 102 may communicate with multiple terminal devices. For example, network device 102 can communicate with terminal device 116 and terminal device 122 . It will be appreciated that network device 102 may communicate with any number of terminal devices similar to terminal devices 116 or 122 .

Terminal devices of the mobile communication system 100 may also be referred to as terminals, user equipment (UE), mobile stations (MS), mobile terminals (MT), and the like. The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application may be a mobile phone, a tablet (Pad), a computer with a wireless transceiver function, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (VR), etc. reality, AR), industrial control, self driving, remote medical, smart grid, transportation safety, smart city, smart home It may also be a wireless terminal used for scenarios such as (smart home). In this application, terminal devices and chips that may be used in terminal devices are collectively referred to as terminal devices. It should be understood that the specific technology and specific device form used by the terminal device are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

As shown in FIG. 1, terminal device 116 communicates with antennas 112 and 114 . Antennas 112 and 114 transmit signals to terminal device 116 over forward link 118 and receive signals from terminal device 116 over reverse link 120 . Additionally, terminal device 122 communicates with antennas 104 and 106 . Antennas 104 and 106 transmit signals to terminal device 122 over forward link 124 and receive signals from terminal device 122 over reverse link 126 .

For example, in a frequency division duplex system, forward link 118 may use a different frequency band than that used by reverse link 120, and forward link 124 may be used by reverse link 126. can use different frequency bands.

As another example, in time division duplex and full duplex systems, forward link 118 and reverse link 120 may use a common frequency band, forward link 124 and Reverse link 126 may use a common frequency band.

Each antenna group and/or area designed for communication may be referred to as a sector of network device 102 . For example, antenna groups may be designed to communicate with terminal devices in sectors within the coverage area of network device 102 . In the process of network device 102 communicating with terminal devices 116 and 122 using forward links 118 and 124, respectively, the transmit antennas of network device 102 improve the signal-to-noise ratio of forward links 118 and 124 through beamforming. obtain. In addition, beamforming allows the network device 102 to transmit signals within an associated coverage area as compared to schemes in which the network device uses a single antenna to transmit signals to all terminal devices served by the network device. Transmitting randomly distributed signals to terminal devices 116 and 122 results in less interference to mobile devices in adjacent cells.

At any given time, network device 102, terminal device 116, or terminal device 122 may be a wireless communication transmitter and/or a wireless communication receiver. In transmitting data, a wireless communication transmitting device may encode the data for transmission. Specifically, a wireless communication transmitting device can obtain a specific number of data bits to be transmitted over a channel to a wireless communication receiving device. For example, a wireless communication transmitting device may generate, receive from another communication device, or store in memory a particular number of data bits to be transmitted over a channel to a wireless communication receiving device. The data bits may be included in a transport block or multiple transport blocks of data, and the transport block may be segmented to generate multiple code blocks.

Additionally, the communication system 100 may be a public land mobile network PLMN, a device to device (D2D) network, a machine to machine (M2M) network, or another network. good. FIG. 1 is merely an example simplified schematic for ease of understanding. The network may further comprise other network devices and more or less terminal devices not shown in FIG.

In communication system 100, network device 102 can conduct wireless communication with terminal device 116 or 122 by using MIMO techniques. In MIMO technology, both the transmitting end device and the receiving end device use multiple transmitting and receiving antennas through multiple antennas of the transmitting end device and the receiving end device to transmit and receive signals. It should be understood that This improves communication quality. In this technique, spatial resources can be fully utilized and multiple input multiple output is achieved by using multiple antennas, thus increasing system channel capacity without increasing frequency resources and antenna transmit power. can increase many times.

With the development of multi-antenna technology, multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas may be configured for both network devices and terminal devices. The number of transmit antennas configured for some terminal devices may be less than the number of receive antennas, eg, 1T2R (ie, one transmit antenna and two receive antennas). Alternatively, the number of transmit antennas configured for some terminal devices is equal to the number of receive antennas, e.g., 8T8R (i.e., 8 transmit antennas and 8 receive antennas), or aTbR (a=b) may In the 8T8R example, a terminal device can simultaneously transmit uplink signals/channels by using eight antennas and receive downlink signals/channels simultaneously by using eight antennas. be understood.

Multi-beam antenna technology is used to increase network capacity. Specifically, the vertical (latitude) distribution of service information tunnels is mainly extended by increasing the number of main device tunnels, which improves spectral efficiency and improves network capacity. Three or more single antenna array elements are used to form an antenna array. After radio frequency processing is performed on the signals received by each array element, weighted processing is performed on the signals based on a suitable weight transformation matrix, whereby directional reception can be achieved. One weight transformation matrix corresponds to a specific beam directivity pattern.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a multi-antenna system. A multi-antenna system comprising eight transmit/receive tunnels, such as Tunnel 1 to Tunnel 8 shown in FIG. 2, is used as an example. A baseband signal is processed and enters eight transmit/receive tunnels, after which weighted processing is performed on the baseband signal. Specifically, weighted processing may be performed based on a weight transformation matrix, eg, a split matrix, to obtain 16 output signals. Sixteen output signals are transmitted over the radio interface. Since the weighting process may change the original beamform, it should be noted that the signals on the transmit/receive tunnel are radiated into beams in different directions to implement diversity, beamforming, spatial multiplexing, etc. be understood. The weight transform matrix can have different dimensions. For example, the partitioned matrix can be an 8x16 determinant. Additionally, a processing scheme based on a 4×8 Butler matrix for 8 input array elements can be used. This is not a limitation in this application.

、

は、各アレイ要素の送信／受信信号を表し、

は、マルチビーム重み変換行列または重みネットワークを表し、

は、実際の各送信／受信トンネルを表し、各送信／受信トンネルは、独立したカバレッジを有する各ビームに対応し、mはトンネルの数を表し、nはアレイの数を表す。 Specifically, the process of weighting can be expressed by using the following equations.

,

represents the transmitted/received signal for each array element, and

represents a multi-beam weight transformation matrix or weight network, and

represents each actual transmit/receive tunnel, each transmit/receive tunnel corresponds to each beam with independent coverage, m represents the number of tunnels, and n represents the number of arrays.

In the beamforming process, the power of multiple beams should be controlled and scheduled based on the capacity of the transmission system. In the multi-antenna system described above, the power of each transmit/receive tunnel is limited. As the number of horizontal arrays increases, the antenna gain also increases continuously. A very high gain results in a very narrow beam, which does not lead to 3 sector coverage in a cellular network. In addition, after the weighting process described above, the signal on each tunnel is divided into 16 output arrays, as shown in FIG. For example, after weighted processing is performed on tunnel 1 signals, output ports 1-16 are assigned powers P ₁ , P ₂ , . . . , and P ₁₆ respectively. P ₁ , P ₂ , . . . , and P ₁₆ correspond to beams 1, 2, . However, in such a process, tunnel power is transmitted through beams that do not correspond to receiving end devices. For example, some power of tunnel 1 is transmitted to the receiving end device via beams 7 and 8. However, beams 7 and 8 are ineffective for the receiving end device. In other words, the receiving end device is not within the coverage area of beam 7 and beam 8. The receiving end device cannot receive beam 7 or beam 8 signals. As a result, tunnel power is reduced.

Additionally, in multi-antenna systems, the maximum power of each tunnel is always fixed. If the rated power is limited, power can be allocated separately only to beams with independent horizontal coverage. As a result, flexible power allocation cannot be implemented for multiple independent beams. As the number of tunnels increases, each radio frequency tunnel corresponds to one antenna array. As a result, it is difficult to implement power sharing between different groups of beams. In a multi-antenna system, beams can be perfectly beamformed through multiple tunnels, but too many tunnels increase costs.

Accordingly, the present application provides a signal processing method for multi-beam antennas to implement flexible power allocation for multiple independent beams by optimizing the process of weighted processing. It should be understood that the technical solutions of the present application can be applied to network devices 102 in wireless communication systems. Without loss of generality, the following describes in detail a signal processing method for multi-beam antennas according to embodiments of the present application with reference to FIGS. Use as an example.

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a signal processing method for multi-beam antennas according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3, method 300 includes the following.

S310: Obtaining a first signal, the first signal including M signal components, where M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a signal processing method according to one embodiment of the present application. It should be appreciated that a base station may implement functions such as accessing terminal devices to a wireless network, performing data transmissions with terminal devices, and managing spatial radio resources. As shown in FIG. 4, a base station 400 may comprise one or more baseband processing units (BBUs) 410, one or more RRUs 420, and an antenna unit 430. As shown in FIG. A BBU is the control center of a base station and is primarily configured to perform baseband processing, such as channel coding, multiplexing, modulation and spectrum spreading, to control the base station. An RRU may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, transceiver equipment, transceiver circuitry, transceiver, etc., and may include a radio frequency unit. The RRU is primarily configured to transmit and receive radio frequency signals and perform conversion between radio frequency signals and baseband signals. For example, the RRU is configured to send signaling messages to terminal devices and perform power allocation for baseband signals. The antenna units are primarily configured to perform weighted processing on the signals and map the processed signals to different beams for transmission. It should be appreciated that the RRU and BBU may be physically co-located or may be physically located separately, eg, in distributed base stations. This is not a limitation in this application.

Eight transmit/receive tunnels Trx1-Trx8 are used as an example, as shown in FIG. BBU 410 may obtain the first signal. The first signal includes M signal components, and all M signal components may be signals for one terminal device or signals for multiple terminal devices. The left portion of BBU 410 in FIG. 4 is used as an example. BBU 410 obtains a first signal, which includes four signal components: a, b, c, and d. It will be appreciated that the first signal is the original signal of the base station.

Optionally, the first signal is a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), or channel state information in the downlink transmitted by the base station to the terminal device. It may be a downlink reference signal, such as a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS). The format of the first signal is not limited in this application.

S320: perform a first weighted process on the first signal based on the first matrix to determine N second signals, N being an integer greater than or equal to 1; The number of rows of the matrix is M and the number of columns of the first matrix is N.

Specifically, after obtaining the first signal, the BBU performs a first weighted process on the first signal, the first weighted process passes the first signal through N tunnels is used to perform power allocation by using a first matrix M×N to allocate to . In other words, the N second signals are components of the first signals of the N transmit/receive tunnels.

Optionally, the first matrix contains M-dimensional vectors of which any two of the N are orthogonal to each other.

In a possible implementation, the value of K is equal to the value of M, and the K third signals correspond one-to-one with the M signal components. It will be appreciated that when K equals M, BBU 410 may assign one original signal to N tunnels through a first weighted process based on a first matrix.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, four signals are obtained after the first signal is processed based on the first matrix. Four signals are processed by RRU 420 and mapped to four transmit/receive tunnels, namely Trx1-Trx4. In this way the power of one signal is allocated to four transmit/receive tunnels. Specifically, the base station's original signal is assigned to the four feed tunnels, then processing such as modulation, frequency mixing, power allocation, etc. obtain. Next, a first weighting process is performed to adjust the digital domain power A. In this way, the power of the entire RRU can be flexibly allocated without being limited to the power rating of a single tunnel.

または

のクロネッカー積に基づいて決定される行列であり、計算式は、Kron（…Kron（Kron（

，

），

）…）として表され得る。 Optionally, the first matrix is a matrix determined based on a discrete fourier transform (DFT), and the mathematical formula can be expressed as DFT(N). Alternatively, the first matrix is the m matrix

or

is determined based on the Kronecker product of , and the formula is Kron(…Kron(Kron(

，

)，

) …).

In a possible implementation, the first matrix is a unitary matrix.

、

または

と表され得、jは複素数である。 Optionally, the mathematical form of the first matrix is

,

or

where j is a complex number.

S330: Perform a second weighted process on the N second signals based on a second matrix to determine K third signals, wherein the second matrix is the first is the conjugate transpose of the matrix containing K M-dimensional vectors in the determinant of the matrix of , where K is less than or equal to N.

である場合、第1の行列は、［a₁₁，a₁₂，a₁₃…，a_1n］および［a₂₁，a₂₂，a₂₃…，a_2n］などのm個のn次元行ベクトルを含む。第2の行列は、K個のn次元行ベクトル、例えば

を含む行列の共役転置行列であり得、K個の第3の信号を取得するために、N個の第2の信号に対して第2の重み付き処理を実行するために使用される。 Specifically, if the first matrix is

then the first matrix contains m n -dimensional row vectors such as [ _a11 , _a12 , _a13 ..., _a1n ] and [ _a21 , _a22 , _a23 ..., _a2n ] . The second matrix is a K n -dimensional row vector, e.g.

and is used to perform second weighted processing on the N second signals to obtain K third signals.

に基づいて信号に対して第1の重み付き処理が実行された後、

に基づいて信号に対して第2の重み付き処理が実行される。上記の第1の行列は4×4行列であり、第2の行列も4×4行列であることがわかる。加えて、第2の行列は、第1の行列の行列式におけるN個すべてまたはN個未満のM次元ベクトルを含む行列の共役転置行列であり得る。 Optionally, the value of K is equal to the value of M, and the K third signals correspond one-to-one with the M signal components. For example, if the first matrix is a unitary matrix,

After the first weighted processing is performed on the signal based on

A second weighted process is performed on the signal based on . It can be seen that the first matrix above is a 4x4 matrix and the second matrix is also a 4x4 matrix. Additionally, the second matrix may be the conjugate transpose of a matrix containing all N or less than N M-dimensional vectors in the determinant of the first matrix.

が、回路の最小構成単位である。90°ブリッジデバイスは、バンド内コンバイナとも呼ばれ、伝送線の定められた方向に沿って送信電力を連続的にサンプリングし、1つの入力信号を等しい振幅および90°の位相差を有する2つの信号に分割し得る。このようにして、ブリッジ回路は、N個の第2の信号をK個の第3の信号に収束させるために、第2の重み付き処理を実行する。 The two blocks in the antenna unit 430 of FIG. 4 each show the circuit form of the unitary matrix. In a possible implementation, the circuit can have four bridge devices, a 90° bridge device

is the minimum structural unit of the circuit. A 90° bridge device, also called an intra-band combiner, continuously samples the transmitted power along a defined direction of the transmission line, converting one input signal into two signals with equal amplitude and a 90° phase difference. can be divided into Thus, the bridge circuit performs a second weighted process to converge the N second signals into K third signals.

It should be appreciated that unitary matrix circuits have multiple forms. For example, a unitary matrix may comprise one 90° bridge device or multiple 90° bridge devices. This is not a limitation in this application.

S340: Transmit K third signals via preset beams, the preset beams being used to carry the third signals to be transmitted to at least one terminal device corresponding to the beams.

In some cases, the number of preset beams corresponds to N terminal devices.

It should be appreciated that one terminal device may correspond to one or more beams. If one terminal device corresponds to one beam, the BBU performs a first weighted process based on the first matrix to assign one original signal to N tunnels, and then An antenna unit can focus the signals on the N tunnels into beams, and communication with terminal devices over the beams is performed.

In the above processing at S310, S320, and S330, the first signal may be converged into K signals after weighted processing, then the K signals are mapped to preset beams, which are the base station is a beam that can be used by a terminal device to communicate with. In this way the N signals are focused on one antenna intended to transmit the N signals.

It should be understood that preset beams are beams for communication between terminal devices and base stations. For example, a preset beam may be a beam preconfigured via higher layer signaling or a beam determined by the terminal device or base station after detection. The manner in which beams are determined is not limited in this application.

It is further appreciated that the preset beam can be one beam. For example, the first terminal device may be within the coverage area of beam 1 and the preset beam may be beam 1 . Alternatively, a preset beam is a group of beams, eg, a group of beams including beams 1 and 5, or a group of beams including beams 1-4. The number of preset beams is not limited in this application.

Optionally, the signals obtained after convergence can be processed by a multi-beam weighting network. After being processed by a multi-beam weighting network, the signals are mapped to different groups of beams with independent coverage, as shown in FIG. Specifically, after the antenna unit 430 of FIG. 4 performs the second weighted processing on the signals, the N signals are converged to one antenna intended to transmit the N signals. . After the N signals are converged, a multi-beam weighting network can map the signals to different groups of beams with independent coverage. The directional antenna design has 8 columns of ±45° polarized arrays with corresponding transmit/receive processing tunnels of 16TRx. As shown, every eight co-polarized arrays correspond to one group of multi-beam weighting networks. In other words, 4 TRX tunnels are mapped to 8 co-polarized arrays through the network.

It should be understood that in the above-described process in which a base station transmits a signal to a terminal device, the execution sequence of steps of the signal processing process is not limited in this application. For example, in the process of a terminal device transmitting a signal to a base station, the signal processing method provided in this embodiment of the present application is also applicable. The method described above may be applied in reverse. Thus, the signal of the first terminal device is received via the preset beam. Signals received via beams are then assigned to multiple feed tunnels through weighted processing based on unitary matrices. The multiple signals are then converged by inverse processing based on the conjugate transpose of the unitary matrix in the baseband digital domain.

It should further be appreciated that the number of input signals is not limited by the signal processing method provided in this embodiment of the application. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the processing performed by BBU 410 on one input signal involves weighting to assign the signal to the four feed tunnels. Alternatively, the two signals may be input simultaneously and weighted processing is performed to assign the two signals to multiple feed tunnels. The antenna unit then performs the inverse of the weighted process to converge the signal. The number of input signals and the number of feed tunnels to which signals are assigned after weighted processing is not limited in this application.

It should be further understood that in the description process of the above embodiments, the BBU 410 performs the first weighted processing and the antenna unit 430 performs the second weighted processing is used as an example. For example, the first weighting process can be based on a unitary matrix and the second weighting process can be based on the conjugate transpose of the unitary matrix. This does not constitute a limitation on the application. The two processing schemes are interchangeable. For example, BBU 410 performs a first weighted operation based on the conjugate transposed matrix of the unitary matrix, and antenna unit 430 performs a second weighted operation based on the unitary matrix. This is not a limitation in this application.

According to the signal processing method provided in this embodiment of the present application, the baseband processing unit performs processing based on the unitary matrix to assign one signal to multiple feed tunnels, then modulates and perform operations such as power allocation. The antenna unit then performs processing based on the inverse transformation relation of the unitary matrix through a bridge circuit to converge the signals on the multiple feed tunnels to the preset antenna. In this way, power can be flexibly allocated via the RRU. Compared to the fixed transmit/receive relationship of existing antenna feeder technology, where the RRU's feed tunnel is directly connected to the antenna, the present solution can implement power sharing between the RRU's feed tunnels without additional feed tunnels. , flexible power allocation among multiple antennas can be implemented, thus reducing costs.

The signal processing method according to the embodiment of the present application has been described in detail above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. FIG. The signal processing device according to the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8. FIG.

FIG. 6 shows a signal processing device 600 according to one embodiment of the present application. The signal processing device 600 is
an acquisition unit 610 configured to acquire a first signal, the first signal comprising M signal components, where M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1;
Perform a first weighted process on the first signal based on a first matrix to determine N second signals, N being an integer greater than or equal to 1, and the first matrix A processing unit 620 configured such that the number of rows of is M and the number of columns of the first matrix is N,
A processing unit 620 performs a second weighted process on the N second signals based on the second matrix to determine K third signals, the second matrix being , the conjugate transpose of a matrix containing K M-dimensional vectors in the determinant of the first matrix, where K is less than or equal to N;
configured to transmit K tertiary signals via preset beams, the preset beams being used to carry the tertiary signals transmitted to at least one terminal device corresponding to the beam a communication unit 630;

Optionally, the first matrix contains M-dimensional vectors of which any two of the N are orthogonal to each other.

Optionally, the value of K is equal to the value of M, and the K third signals correspond one-to-one with the M signal components.

In a possible implementation, the number of preset beams corresponds to N terminal devices.

Optionally, the first matrix is a unitary matrix.

もしくは

のクロネッカー積に基づいて決定される行列である。 In possible implementations, the first matrix is determined based on the discrete Fourier transform, or m matrices

or

is a matrix determined based on the Kronecker product of

、

、または

のうちのいずれか1つである。 Specifically, the mathematical form of a unitary matrix is:

,

,or

is one of

In possible designs, signal processor 600 may be a network device (eg, a base station) or a chip configured within a network device.

It should be understood that the signal processor 600 herein is presented in the form of functional units. The term "unit" herein refers to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor configured to execute one or more software or firmware programs (e.g. may refer to shared processors, dedicated processors, or group processors), memory, merge logic, and/or another suitable component that supports the described functionality. In an optional example, the signal processor 600 may specifically be a base station in the above embodiments, and the signal processor 600 may perform the corresponding procedures and/or steps in the method embodiment 300 above. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that it can be configured to perform To avoid repetition, the details are not described here again.

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of a network device 700 (eg, base station) according to one embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 7, network device 700 comprises processor 710 and transceiver 720 . Optionally, network device 700 further comprises memory 730 . Processor 710, transceiver 720, and memory 730 communicate with each other via interconnect paths to transfer control and/or data signals. Memory 730 is configured to store computer programs. Processor 710 is configured to recall computer programs from memory 730 and execute computer programs to control transceiver 720 to transmit or receive signals.

Processor 710 and memory 730 may be integrated into one processing unit. Processor 710 is configured to execute program code stored in memory 730 to perform the functions described above. Memory 730 may also be integrated with processor 710 or separate from processor 710 in particular implementations.

The network device can further include an antenna 740 configured to transmit downlink data or downlink control signals output by the transceiver 720 by using radio signals.

Specifically, network device 700 may correspond to a base station of communication method 300 in embodiments of the present application, and network device 700 is configured to perform the method performed by the base station in communication method 300 of FIG. may comprise a module configured to: Additionally, the modules within network device 700 and other operations and/or functions described above are used to implement the corresponding procedures of communication method 300 of FIG. Specifically, memory 730 stores program code for controlling processor 710 to perform S320 and controlling transceiver 720 to perform S330 in method 300 by using antenna 740. configured to store The specific process by which each module performs the corresponding steps above is detailed in method 300 . For the sake of brevity, the details are not described again here.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a network device 800 according to one embodiment of the present application. Network device 800 may be configured to implement the functionality of the network device in method 300 described above. For example, FIG. 8 may be a schematic configuration diagram of a base station. As shown in FIG. 8, base stations may be used in the system shown in FIG. A base station 800 includes one or more radio frequency units, such as a remote radio unit (RRU) 801, and one or more baseband units BBUs (also known as digital units, DUs). 802. RRU 801 may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, transceiver equipment, transceiver circuitry, transceiver, etc., and may comprise at least one antenna 803 and radio frequency unit 804 . RRU 801 is primarily configured to transmit and receive radio frequency signals and perform conversion between radio frequency signals and baseband signals. For example, the RRU 801 is configured to send the signaling messages in the above embodiments to terminal devices. BBU 802 is primarily configured to perform baseband processing and control base stations, for example. BBU 802 is the control center of the base station. For example, BBU 802 may be configured in embodiments of method 300 to control base station 800 to perform base station-related operational procedures.

In one example, the BBU 802 may include one or more boards, which may jointly support a single access standard radio access network (such as an LTE system or an NR system). , may separately support radio access networks of different access standards. BBU 802 further comprises memory 805 and processor 806 . Memory 805 is configured to store necessary instructions and necessary data. For example, memory 805 stores codebooks, etc. in the embodiments described above. The processor 806 is configured to control the base station to perform the necessary operations, for example, to perform the operational procedures associated with the network device in the method embodiments described above. be done. Memory 805 and processor 806 may serve one or more boards. In other words, the memory and processor may be located on each board. Alternatively, multiple boards may share the same memory and the same processor. Additionally, the necessary circuitry may be further located on each substrate.

In a possible implementation, with the development of System-on-chip (SOC) technology, all or part of the functionality of the BBU802 and RRU801 may be implemented via SoC technology, e.g. It may be implemented via a function chip. The base station function chip integrates components such as processors, memory and antenna ports. Programs for base station related functions are stored in memory. The processor executes a program for performing base station related functions. In some cases, the base station function chip can also read memory off-chip to perform base station related functions.

It should be understood that the base station configuration shown in FIG. 8 is only a possible configuration and should not constitute any limitation to this embodiment of the present application. There may be other forms of base station configurations in the future in this application.

The processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), another general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit. circuit, ASIC), field programmable gate array (FPGA) or another programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, and the like. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or the processor may be any conventional processor, and so on.

It should be appreciated that memory in embodiments of the present application may be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, and may include volatile and non-volatile memory. Non-volatile memory includes read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (programmable ROM, PROM), erasable and programmable read-only memory (erasable PROM, EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (electrically EPROM, EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM), used as an external cache. Through exemplary but non-limiting description, for example, static random access memory (static RAM, SRAM), dynamic random access memory (dynamic RAM, DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), double data rate synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (double data rate SDRAM, DDR SDRAM), Enhanced Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), Synchronous Link Dynamic Random Access Memory (synchlink DRAM, SLDRAM), and Direct Rambus Random Access Memory (direct Many forms of random access memory (RAM) may be used, such as rambus RAM, DR RAM).

The present application further provides a computer program product according to the method provided in the embodiments of the present application. A computer program product comprises computer program code. The computer program code, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to perform the method of the embodiment shown in FIG.

The present application further provides a computer-readable medium, according to the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application. A computer readable medium stores program code. When the program code is run on a computer, the computer is enabled to perform the method of the embodiment shown in FIG.

According to the method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the present application further provides a system. The system comprises a network device as described above and one or more terminal devices. All or part of the above-described embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When software is used to implement the embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. A computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. The computer program instructions, when loaded into a computer and executed, generate, in whole or in part, the procedures or functions according to the embodiments of the present application. The computer may be a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, computer network, or another programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, computer instructions may be transmitted wirelessly (e.g., infrared, radio waves, or microwaves) from a website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center. . A computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center integrating one or more available media. The media that can be used can be magnetic media (eg, floppy disks, hard disks, or magnetic tapes), optical media (eg, DVDs), or semiconductor media. The semiconductor medium may be a solid state drive.

It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application the terms "first", "second", "third", etc. are used merely to distinguish different objects and do not constitute any limitation to the present application. . For example, these terms are used to distinguish between different signals, different matrices, and different processing schemes.

It should be further understood that although "antenna" and "antenna port" are generally used interchangeably in the embodiments of the present application, the meaning of the terms can be understood by those skilled in the art. Note that where the difference between terms is not emphasized, the meanings expressed by the terms are the same. Antenna ports may be understood as transmitting antennas that are perceived by the receiving end device or that may be distinguished in space. One antenna port is configured for each virtual antenna, each virtual antenna may be a weighted combination of multiple physical antennas, and each antenna port may correspond to one reference signal port.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the units and algorithmic steps may be implemented by electronic hardware or by computer software and electronic hardware in combination with the examples described in the embodiments disclosed herein. may be implemented by a combination of Whether a function is implemented by hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may use different methods to implement the described functionality for each particular application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

It is clearly understood by those skilled in the art that for the detailed operation processes of the systems, devices and units, reference should be made to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments for ease of explanation. Details are not described here again.

It should be appreciated that in some of the embodiments provided in this application, the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the described apparatus embodiment is merely exemplary. The division into units is merely logical function division, and may be other divisions in actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components may be combined. Additionally, the mutual couplings or communication connections shown or described may be indirect couplings or communication connections through some interface, device, or unit.

In addition, the functional units in the embodiments of this application may be incorporated into one physical unit, each of the units may correspond to one physical entity, or two or more units may be combined into one physical unit. may be incorporated into

When the functionality is implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, the functionality may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be implemented in the form of a software product, essentially or part of which contributes to the prior art, or part of the technical solution. good. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and enables a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the method steps described in the embodiments of the present application. contains several instructions that allow A storage medium is any medium capable of storing program code, e.g., USB flash drive, removable hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic Includes disk or optical disc.

The above descriptions are only specific embodiments of the present application and are not intended to limit the protection scope of the present application. Any variation or replacement readily figured out by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present application shall fall within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of this application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

100 communication systems
102 network devices
104 Antenna
106 antenna
108 antenna
110 antenna
112 antenna
114 antenna
116 terminal devices
118 forward link
120 reverse link
122 terminal devices
124 forward link
126 reverse link
300 communication methods
400 base stations
410 Baseband Unit
420 Remote Radio Unit
430 Antenna Unit
600 signal processor
610 acquisition unit
620 processing units
630 communication unit
700 network devices
710 processor
720 transceiver
730 memory
740 Antenna
800 network devices
801 Remote Radio Unit
802 Baseband Unit
803 Antenna
804 Radio Frequency Unit
805 memory
806 processor

Claims (10)

A signal processing method applied to a network device with multiple feed tunnels to implement power allocation among multiple antennas, comprising:
obtaining a first signal, said first signal comprising M signal components, where M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1;
performing a first weighted process on the first signal based on a first matrix to assign the M signal components of the first signal to the plurality of feed tunnels; wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, the number of rows of said first matrix is M, and the number of columns of said first matrix is a step that is N;
K _ _ determining third signals , wherein said second matrix is the conjugate transpose of a matrix containing K N-dimensional row vectors of said first matrix, where K is less than or equal to N; , step and
transmitting the K third signals via preset beams, wherein the preset beams carry the third signals to be transmitted to at least one terminal device corresponding to the preset beams. The signal processing method used, comprising steps and . 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first matrix comprises N M-dimensional vectors, any two of which are orthogonal to each other. 3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the value of K is equal to the value of M, and the K third signals correspond one-to-one with the M signal components. 4. The method of any one of claims 1-3, wherein the first matrix is an N-dimensional unitary matrix. the first matrix is a matrix determined based on a discrete Fourier transform, or the first matrix is m matrices

or

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the matrix is determined based on the Kronecker product of . 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the number of preset beams corresponds to N terminal devices. The mathematical form of said first matrix is:

,

,or

7. The method of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the method is any one of A signal processing device,
A signal processing apparatus comprising a transceiver, a processor and a memory storing a computer program which, when executed by said processor, causes said apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 7. A computer-readable storage medium containing computer instructions, said computer instructions enabling said computer to perform a signal processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 when said computer instructions are executed on said computer. a computer-readable storage medium. A program, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the signal processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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